2/6 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. X, 



Subfamily Lepadinae. 

 Genus Alepas (Rang), Pilsbry. 



Alepas, Pilsbry, U.S. Nat. Mus^Biill. 60, p. 103 (1907); Annandale, Mem. 

 Ind. Mns. II, p. 64 (1909 I. 



Pelagic Lepadinae with translucent or transparent tissues, 

 without calcareous valves or with a pair of scuta only, 

 without a muscular lining to the capitulum, without 

 anal appendages or with uniarticulate anal appendages, 

 with straight or nearly straight cirri of not more than 

 about 14 joints to each ramus, with (in one species) 5 

 lateral filaments on each side. The joints of the cirri 

 bear circles of hair distally ; the mandibles are well 

 developed, with five or six teeth ; the maxillae often 

 have the cutting edge scalariform. 



The synonymy of the genus thus redefined is discussed b}' 

 Pilsbry in the paper cited. I have adopted his views on the 

 subject because they seem to be consistent and to tend to simpli- 

 city in the classification of the Lepadidae, but it is of course true 

 that the identification of the species described by Quoy and Gaimard 

 and by Rang on the one hand and by Lesson on the other must 

 remain in doubt. 



In my own paper to which reference is made I proposed 

 to recognize Alepas provisionally as the eponymous genus of a 

 subfamily of somewhat degenerate Lepadidae characterized by 

 their transparent tissues and simplified valves and appendages. 

 It is clear, however, from an examination of the species described 

 below that I was mistaken in my views as to the relationships 

 of the genus, which must be placed near Conchoderma. Indeed, 

 the characters whereon the two genera are separated (the thickness 

 of the capitulum, the length of the cirri, the spinulation of these 

 appendages, and apparent differences in the form of the mouth- 

 parts, which are unknown in some species of Alepas) are hardly 

 of generic importance unless considered together. Whether some 

 of the other genera {Chaetolepas, Microlepas, etc.) placed by me in 

 1909 in the " Alepadinae " should be separated from the Lepadinae 

 is doubtful, but Anelasma appears to be very distinct. I have not 

 seen examples of any of these genera. 



The difterent species of Alepas have in nearly all cases been 

 found on the umbrella of pelagic medusae. The genus evidently 

 occurs in all warm and tropical seas, but individuals appear to be 

 extremely rare. Specimens identified by Gruvel as A. parasita^ 

 Sander-Rang, have been taken in the southern part of the Indian 

 Ocean ^ 



Alepas investig^atoris, sp. nov. 



(Pis. xxxiii, xxxiv, fig. ?.) 



The whole animal is white and translucent, except that the 

 cement-glands have a yellowish tinge, which is also present in the 



■i Bull. Soc. zool. France, 1907, p. 163. 



